Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › Grove's dictionary of music and musicians;, 1904 › scan 370

Scan 370

Grove's dictionary of music and musicians;, 1904

12 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026. Printed page 314. See the scan on archive.org.

1rearranged as to raise the lower end of the finger-board farther above the belly, and thus admit of a bridge of the modern height; the new handle, carefully morticed into the head, must be made of somewhat greater length than the old one. The peg-holes, enlarged by use, must be plugged and repierced: a new bridge and sound-post must be adjusted with all the accuracy which these important details demand. Great labour and attention are demanded by an old violin, and they will be thrown away unless every detail is considered with strict reference to the particular type of instrument which is in hand. Hence the restoration of old instruments demands a knowledge of the fiddle which is perhaps wider and deeper than that required for the mere fiddle-maker.
3BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE VIOLIN. — It must be obvious to the reader that within the limits necessarily set upon this article by the scope and intention of this Dictionary, it has been impossible to do more than touch very lightly upon the various sections of the subject. He is therefore referred to the following works dealing with the history and manufacture of the instrument: — Anonymous, The Violin and How to Make It (Boston, 1886); Ueber den Bau der Geige und andere Saiteninstrumente (Leipzig, 1844); Cenni sulla celebre Scuola Cremonese degli Strumenti ad arco (Cremona, 1872). Abele, H., Die Violine, ihre Geschichte und ihr Bau (Neuberg, 1864, (2nd) 1874). Aplan-Bennewitz, P. O., Die Geige, der Geigenbau und die Bogen-verfertigung (with Atlas), (Weimar, 1892). Bachmann, O., Theoretisch-praktisches Handbuch des Geigenbauers (Quedlinburg, 1835). Bagatella, A., Regole per costruzione de' Violini, etc. (Padua, 1786, 2nd ed. Padua, 1883; Translations, Gottingen, 1896; Leipzig, 1806). Broadhouse, J., How to make a Violin (London, 1892). Coventry, W. B., Notes on the Construction of the Violin (London, 1902). Davidson, P., The Violin (Glasgow, 1871–1881). Drögemeyer, A., Die Geige (Bremen, 1891, 1892, 1902). Dubourg, G., The Violin (London, 1836–1878). Engel, C., History of the Violin (London, 1883). Fétis, F. J., Antoine Stradivari (Paris, 1857; Translation, London, 1864). Fleming, J. M., Old Violins (London, 1883–90). Folegatti, E., Storia del Violino (Bologna, 1873–74). Fry, G., Varnishes of the Italian Violin-makers (London, 1904). Gallay, J., Les Luthiers Italiens (Paris, 1869); Les Instruments des Ecoles Italiens (Paris, 1872). Grilllet, L., Les Ancêtres du Violon (Paris, 1901). Grivel, V., Vernis des Anciens Luthiers (Grenoble, 1866). Hart, G., The Violin (London, 1875, 1880, 1887). Heron-Allen, E., The Ancestry of the Violin (London, 1882); The Violin-makers of Markneukirchen (London, 1894); Violin-making as it Was and Is (London, 1884–1900). Hill, W. E. & Sons, Antonio Stradivari (London, 1902). Labarraque, A. G., L'Art du Boyaudier (Paris, 1822). Lutgendorff, W., Die Geigen und Lautenmacher von Mittenwald (Frankfurt, 1904). Malland, E., Découverte des Anciens Vernis Italiens (Paris, 1859). Maugin et Maigne, Manuel du Luthier (Paris, 1834, 1869, 1894). Mayson, W. H., Violin-making (London, 1902). Migge, O., Das Geheimniss der berühmten italienischen Geigenbauer (Frankfurt, 1894). Modret, L., La Lutherie Artistique (Paris, 1885); Les Violons de Cremona (Rouen, 1898). Morris, W. M., British Violin-makers (London, 1894). Niederheitmann, F., Cremona (Leipzig, 1877; Translation, London, 1894). Otto, J. A., Ueber den Bau und die Erhaltung der Geige (Halle, 1817); Ueber den Bau der Bogeninstrumente (Jena, 1828, 1873, 1886; Translations, London, 1833, 1848, 1860, 1875). Pancaldi, C., Progresso Italiano nella Costruzione del Violino (Palermo, 1845). Pearce, J., Violins and Violin-makers (London, 1866). Picolellis, G., de, Liutai antichi (Florence, 1885, 1886). Piegendorfer, G., Die Swabischen Geigenbauer (Leipzig, 1895). Plassiard, J. A., Des Cordes Harmoniques en Général (Mirecourt, 1879). Reade, C., Cremona Violins (Gloucester, 1873). Richelme, A. M., Etudes et Observations sur la Lutherie (Marseilles, 1868), Rinaldi, B. G., Classica Fabbricazione di Violini in Piemonte (Turin, 1873). Ruhlmann, J., Die Geschichte der Bogeninstrumente, with Atlas (Brunswick, 1882). Sandys, W., and Forster, S. A., The History of the Violin (London, 1864). Savart, F., Mémoire sur la Construction des Instruments à Cordes et à Archet (Paris, 1819, etc.). Schulze, C., Stradivari's Geheimniss (Berlin, 1901). Sibire, La Chelonomie ou le par fait Luthier (Paris, 1809; Brussels, 1823, 1885). Simoutre, N. E., Aux amateurs du Violon (Basle, 1883). Smith, H. P., Construction of the Violin (Syracuse, N. Y., 1877). Starcke, H., Die Geige (Dresden, 1884). Tolbecque, A., Quelques considérations sur la Lutherie (Paris, 1890); Notice Historique sur les Instruments à Cordes et à Archet (Paris, 1898); L'Art du Luthier (Niort, 1903). Valdrighi, L. F., Nomochelurgografia (Modena, 1884). Vidal, A., Les Instruments à Archet (Paris, 1876–78); La Lutherie (Paris, 1889). Walden, E. D. von, Il Violino (Naples, 1883–88). Weis, C., Om Violiner og deres Bygning (Copenhagen, 1861). Welcker von Gontershausen, H., Ueber den Bau der Saiteninstrumente (Frankfurt, 1870). Wettengel, G. A., Lehrbuch der Anfertigung etc., von italienischen und deutschen Geigen (Ilmenau, 1828; Wefmar, 1869). White, A. W., The Violin (Boston, Mass., 1892). Youssoupoff, N., Luthomonographie (Frankfurt, 1856).
5E. J. P.; revised by the Editor and E. H-A.
7VIOLIN-PLAYING. From the foregoing article it will be seen that all the elements of violin-playing were already in existence in the 13th century. But it was not till the middle of the 16th that players on bowed instruments began to shake off the domination of the lute, with its tunings by fourths and thirds, and its excessive number of strings; and it appears that concurrently with this change, the modelled back, which gives the characteristic violin tone, came into use, and the fiddle finally took its present form. It seems to have spread quickly both in France and Italy. At Rouen, in 1550, a considerable number are said to have been employed in public performances, and Montaigne, in 1580, heard at Verona a Mass with violins. Too much importance, however, must not be attached to such statements, since the terms 'violin' and 'viola' were then often applied to stringed instruments of all kinds.
9In order to gain an idea of the way the violin was played at this early period, we naturally look to the scores of contemporaneous composers. But here we meet with a difficulty. Down to the end of the 16th century we do not find the instruments specified by which the different parts are to be played. On the titles of the earlier works of A. and G. Gabrieli (1557–1613) we read: 'Sacrae Cantiones, tum viva voce tum omnis generis Instrumentis cantatu commodissimae' (most convenient for the voice, as for all kinds of instruments), or 'Sacrae Symphoniae tam vocibus quam instrumentis' (for voices as well as instruments); or 'Psalmi tum omnis generis instrumentorum tum ad vocis modulationem accomodati' (Psalms for all kinds of instruments and the voice); or 'Buone da cantare e suonare,' or other similar directions.1 No doubt settled usages prevailed in this respect, and it is of course to be assumed that whenever violins were employed, they took the upper part of the harmony. It is obvious that, as long as
111 These expressions are exactly equivalent to the words so often found on the title-pages of English madrigals of the 17th century — 'Apt for viols and voices.'

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